Established in 1925, Virunga National Park is Africa’s oldest and most diverse park. The publications scanned above are from the WCS Archives Collection. It was in Albert National Park (today Virunga National Park) in 1959 and 1960 that field biologist George Schaller conducted his pioneering studies into the ecology and behaviour of mountain gorillas. Between 1959 and 1961, he and his wife, Kay, lived in a tiny shack in the Virunga Volcanoes, almost completely cut off from the outside world. It was there that Schaller was able to habituate the gorillas to his presence, making regular observations of their diet, social structure, and habits.
People are so enamored of technology and DNA that universities spend less and less time teaching natural history, and that’s the basis of knowledge. (…). And unless you go out and study what’s in the field, you can’t plan for conservation that well. You can measure how fast forest is being destroyed, you can measure the biomass of grassland, but you don’t know any details.
\ George Schaller
Virunga Park | Wildlife Conservation Society
